After running away from an abusive home, Nick becomes the apprentice to wizard Zachariah Smallbone, the owner of a bookstore whose snarky books teach Nick the magic he will need to defeat Smallbone's nemesis, werewolf Fidelou.

After her older sister runs away, sixteen-year-old Caitlin decides that she needs to make a major change in her own life and begins an abusive relationship with a boy who is mysterious, brilliant, and dangerous.

Rollo the troll is tired of chores, but after spending time on the tundra with various animal families, from owls to moose, he realizes that he wants to be home for Christmas even if that means behaving himself.